As is our wont, it’s time to check in on what everyone’s favorite Texan, Willie Nelson, is up to lately.
He’s kept up a brisk pace over the course of 2025, so let’s dig into what the 92-year-old icon has cooking.
Keep on Workin’
On Nov. 7, Nelson will release — per the diligent Willie historians at Texas Monthly, his 154th overall album and 77th solo studio album, Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle. The 11-track album will feature Nelson’s renditions of songs written by his long-time friend, collaborator and contemporary Merle Haggard (he and Willie cut three albums together, including 2015’s Django and Jimmie.)
You can hear the lead single, Nelson’s rendition of “Workin’ Man Blues” below.
The forthcoming album is also notable for featuring the final studio performances of Nelson’s beloved sister, Bobbie, and his long-time drummer Paul English, who died in 2022 and 2020, respectively. Produced by Nelson alongside Mickey Raphael at the former’s Pedernales Studio in Austin, Merle also features performances from Raphael and English’s brother Billy on percussion.
In his own words
A just-published anthology — Willie Nelson on Willie Nelson: Interview and Encounters — by the Chicago Review Press surveys decades’ worth of press encounters (from 1969 to 2021), and, as press materials put it, “this collection reveals the icon as a complex and contradictory man, elusive at times, outspoken at others.” The anthology is edited by Paul Maher Jr. The book is available for purchase now.
A year of milestones
2025 has been a banner year for Willie milestones, with his landmark album Red Headed Stranger turning 50 years old, as well as Farm Aid’s 40th anniversary earlier in September. (Ever the iconoclast, Nelson covered Journey’s 1983 hit “Faithfully” with singer Steve Perry, with all proceeds benefiting Farm Aid.) Nelson also spent much of the year on the road at his Outlaw Music Festival marked its 10th anniversary.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky (@prestonjones.bsky.social).Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
